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It is great to see Travis at this level, but it's primary purpose is a flood control lake. It has gone up and down many times over the decades. The Pedernales and Llano watersheds are a ticking time bomb for a future catastrophic flood that Lake Travis wiil probably not be able to handle. The resulting damage from a rainfall event such as the 1998 Guadulupe River flood would be of a magnitude that is difficult to imagine.
agree. As a witness first hand of the '98 and '02 flooding it will happen again. The rapid development in the hill country has stripped a lot of the top soil down to the limestone or better asphalt roads. The drainage systems all point to the rivers as a catch all. It is not sustainable.
I'm just nit-picking here. You're right, but your timelines are WAY off. The changes in the hill country go back to at least the start of the 20th century and possibly go back even further. I recall from Geology field trips that Longhorn Caverns was dug out during the depression as a CCC project and there are areas of the cavern where you can see a marked change in the sedimentation that was carried into parts of the cavern. That sediment likely correlates to changes in land use as a result of European arrival.
Also, if you read LBJ's biography he talks about the denudation of the hills during his childhood. When the first settlers arrived in the region it was most likely rolling grass-covered hills and valleys. Not the rocky, brush, and oak outcrops we're familiar with today. Don't get me wrong there were probably plenty of places where the soil was quite thin, and natural springs and shallow GW tables were likely plentiful. (GW pumping is a totally other discussion).
Those rivers have possibly been overloaded for quite some time.